Toomanywires

In Case You Missed it: FFIX and Nodding Off / Blur - Why Not Play Something New? / Long-term  Resident October Playlist I really enjoyed  Resident Evil Village. It's far more consistent than RE7 and does a decent job of harkening back to previous Evils whilst continuing, and improving upon, the series reimagining. And it was a steal at that 6-months-after-launch nice-price. I did more detailed words, and a picture, on Village the week before last. The link's above. I wasn't going to buy Deathloop , but then I did. Mainly because I found a copy at a silly price, but also because it has certain qualities that appeal. I'd been imagining it as a kinda-successor to TimeSplitters, what with the time manipulation and slightly exaggerated art style. It's not TimeSplitters, obviously, but it is rather good. It took me a little while to get to grips with the ins and outs of the looping story, and how I'm supposed to manipulate it, but once that clicked I really got int

I've been playing Resident Evil since 1997. Four decades of Biohazard.  No other series can compete for longevity. Final Fantasy would come the closest, but RE would still have it beat by 2-3 years. Metal Gear Solid is of that era, but it has since expired along with many of the other gaming franchises that were important to me in the 1990s. While almost everything else from that period fell by the wayside, Resident Evil remained - entertaining and relevant. It almost didn't though. Resident Evil 6 felt like a point of no return. Tired and overdone, it was a bad impression of what had come before, combined with contemporary action-game conventions that were already growing stale. MASH CIRCLE TO LAND THE PLANE! It was an incohesive mess, each promising section undone by several irredeemable ones. It was clear that the series had to change. Fortunately, Capcom were well aware.  They looked backed and reimagined; they looked forward and reinvented. Viewed today, remaking the origi

I don't recall having much interest in Blur at the time. That time being 2010, and Blur an arcade racer developed by Bizarre Creations for the PS3, 360 and PC. Back then, we were spoilt rotten for racing games. The best-in-class Burnout Paradise Ultimate Box was barely a year old, and many of us were still whizzing around Paradise City on the regular. I know I certainly was. Hot Pursuit was an outstanding Need for Speed, and the series would continue to ride high for the next couple of years. MotorStorm was worthy of our attention, Forza had just arrived and Gran Turismo was doing numbers. Split/Second, a very similar looking racer to Blur, lunched just a few days earlier than its lookalike, confusing everyone. 2010 was also a bumper year for games in general. Mass Effect 2, Red Dead Redemption, Final Fantasy XIII, God of War 3, Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, and DJ Hero 2 all had my undivided attention at different points, not to mention all the 2009 leftovers I was devouring.

I've started nodding off in front of the TV, mid-game. I play games in the evening, after everyone else in the house has gone to bed. After I've finished the post-dinner chores, exercised and showered. That usually means around 10:30 for about an hour - sometimes a little longer if I'm really enjoying myself. An hour an evening to lose myself in another world. Only it hasn't quite been an hour of late, as I can't keep my eyes open that long. First come the yawns. Then my mind starts to wander, and I'm unable to focus on the on-screen text. Next, things start to go distant. I'm awake, but barely. I know I'm closing my eyes, but I'm just resting them, or so I tell myself. I'll stand up and grab a water, that'll wake me up. I fail to stand. When I open my eyes, my character is running into a wall, my thumbs the only part of me that is still awake. I persevere for a few minutes, before deciding to pack it in. Console to standby mode. The next eve